1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hair rinse composition which possesses an excellent rinsing effect and which imparts smoothness and suppleness to human hair. More particularly, the present invention relates to a hair rinse composition comprising, as indispensable components, a quaternary ammonium salt and a secondary alcohol or ethoxylate thereof in which the average mole number of added ethylene oxide units is zero to 7 and the alkyl group has 8 to 20 carbon atoms.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hair rinse compositions comprising as an effective component a quaternary ammonium salt have heretofore been used for alleviating troublesome characteristics of freshly-washed hair such as rough feel, entanglement, generation of static charges and difficulty in combing. The hair rinse compositions impart softness, smoothness and an antistatic property to hair. However, when a quaternary ammonium salt alone is used, fully satisfactory effects of smoothness and softness cannot be obtained. In order to overcome this disadvantage of the use of the quaternary ammonium salt alone, oils and fats such as higher alcohols, glycerides and liquid paraffins have heretofore been incorporated in hair rinse compositions.
The oils and fats that have heretofore been used are not fully satisfactory as regards the rinsing effect and they are not effective for use on damaged hair, for example, hair which has been subjected to dyeing and cold wave treatments. Further, even if temporarily satisfactory effects are attained, they do not last and, as is well known, the effects attained by rinsing are lost immediately after hair is dried.